Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Tuesday 05/01 A.M. Quickie:May Day! Mayday for the Mavs!

Warriors Watch: I'm not sure that GoldenState can close out the series against the Mavericks IN Dallas tonight. This game is closer to Game 2, which the Mavs -- already feeling the pressure -- won. (However, that will just make a Game 6 close-out back in Oakland so awesome.)

Cavs sweep out Wiz: Thus ends the most entertaining Wizards season since the team defended its NBA title in the Finals in 1979.

As a Wiz fan, I'm focused more on the Wiz than the Cavs: If the Wizards can stay healthy, they can bounce back to the form that made them one of the Top 2 teams in the East in the first half of the season.

As for "what next?" for the Cavs, it'll either be the Nets or the Raptors. Based on the slovenly Cavs team I saw beat the Wiz, either would be a challenge.

Randy Moss to the Pats, Cont'd. Here is the closest analogue I could think of: When Dennis Rodman went to the Bulls.

The forceful personalities of Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan kept the Worm's natural anarchy in check externally, while the prospects of a career-balancing championship provided internal motivation. The result was that Rodman helped that Bulls team put together arguably the greatest season in NBA history.

Similarly, I see Belichick and Brady keeping Moss in line, while the potential of not just winning a Super Bowl ring -- and destroying everyone along the way in doing it -- providing Moss with the internal motivation to be a model citizen.

The near-universal agreement -- on May 1 -- that the Pats will win the next Super Bowl is like nothing I've ever seen before.

(Update: Apparently, from what I've heard from readers, Simmons wrote something along this vein about Moss. I assure you: I didn't see it before I posted.)

George Steinbrenner gave Joe Torre the dreaded quasi-vote of confidence. Translated, all that means is that he'll wait until the end of the season to fire him.

The Death of Josh Hancock: I'm not yet willing to buy-in to local reports that Hancock was drinking before his fatal car crash. It would certainly be a tragedy if that was the case.

Meanwhile, it was obvious that his teammates are struggling with the tragedy; they would have probably been better off forfeiting last night's 7-1 loss than playing with the heavy hearts they had.

MLB Stud: Roy Halladay. Second complete game of the season, including 8 Ks, 0 BBs and only 5 hits. He's 4-0 and surging.

Nats Mania: Don't look now, but after John Patterson beat Jake Peavy for his first win of '07 (and, more notably, in a year), the Nats have as many wins as... the Yankees. Great time to be a (new) Nats fan!

Gilbert Arenas on cover of NBA Live '08: In a season full of highlights, this might be the ultimate validation of Arenas' "Takeover."

Rockets up 3-2 on Jazz: Looks like it's coming down to home-court advantage on this one. That means Rockets in 7.

Spurs up 3-1 on Nuggets: Thanks in part to yet another big shot by "Big Shot Rob" Horry. Let's pretend it's Election Night and call this one now for San Antonio.

Rick Majerus to St. Louis, officially: No offense to SLU, but it seems like a lower-tier job than Majerus deserves. That said, we're living in a new hoops world, where high mid-major teams like SLU are judged on NCAA Tournament performances, not regular-season wins. Majerus can turn SLU into a powerful perennial Tournament team.

If there has ever been a moment made for "all-access" coverage, it would be the pairing of Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan at the Wachovia Pro-Am this week.

Pac-Man Jones is going to appeal his suspension: Yeah, good luck with that.

Varsity Letters Reading Series: Tomorrow night! If you live in NYC, it's the monthly must-attend event for sports fans. This month's lineup is chock full of credibility: Jeremy Schaap, Mike Freeman and Michael Weinreb. Here's a link to info.

Speaking of books, DJ Gallo's long-awaited, much-anticipated book is finally out today. Head on over to his site, SportsPickle, to get the info and buy your copy.

1.) We all have argued about this before Dan. The Atlantic 10 is NOT a mid-major conference. Yeah it's not part of the Major 6...but it's still a good conference and St. Louis is a good bball school. As a Dayton fan, I for one am scared of the prestige he will bring to that program.

2.) Question...is it sad that when I first heard how Josh Hancock died, I immediately thought, "He had to be drunk to do that."

3.) When is the lottery drawing? Do you all know that the Bulls have the Knicks pick for next year? If that turns out to be a top 3 pick...the Bulls will be the team to beat in the East for the next 5 years!

I want to put this as delicately as possible. Unfortunately, car accidents claim lives everyday. When an "everyday" person dies, life in an office must go on. Yes, take a day to mourn. But people go back to work. I feel for Hancock's family and friends. But there is no way the Cardinals should have forfeited the game. They went out and played their best. Obviously, they were distracted and distraught, but it happens in workplaces all over the country where you have to get back to work.

2. I'm a little dissapointed you didn't address all of the comments yesterday regarding your rip on Brady Quinn, do you still feel he's a little bitch for hiding in Goodell's box? How do you feel about the response

3. Mikepcfl - I disagree - I think they postponed the game, not forfeited it. And, if you work in a very close office environment with 25 people, and one of them dies in a car accident, I don't think it's surprisngly that many people would miss work for a day, go to the funeral, work would suffer for a while. It's not like the Cardinals took the week off, they had less then a day to mourn, I don't begrudge them that.

4. CMFost - A-Rod still had a historic April - tied the April record for HRs and RBIs.

Obviously it's jumping the gun if we don't have a BAC yet on Hancock. But sheesh, we might have one of those "I learned it by watching YOU!" comments in light of LaRussa's arrest earlier this year.

A guy at pickup hoops last night looked like he was growing a Baron Davis beard, but nobody seemed to know who Baron Davis even is, let alone the beard connection.

I always thought Majerus looked like the dad on "Just the Ten of Us", that cheesy spinoff from Growing Pains about the basketball coach.

The problem with Gallo is that he is as funny as anyone else, but that it's because he's funny 25% of the time, while throwing out four times as many attempts at humor. Sometimes they do stick and you say, yeah, that was pretty funny.

I was talking about Dan's point in his post that the Cardinals should have forfeited Monday's game. I agree they should not have played on Sunday. And in my office, we would have closed for a day and then come back to work while suffering. That's what the Cards did and I agree with that. I disagreed with Dan saying yesterday should have been a forfeit.

RevScottDeMangeMD said... 1.) We all have argued about this before Dan. The Atlantic 10 is NOT a mid-major conference. Yeah it's not part of the Major 6...but it's still a good conference and St. Louis is a good bball school. As a Dayton fan, I for one am scared of the prestige he will bring to that program.

Three years ago I would have laughed that off...However, I decided to pursue more schooling and University of Dayton was my choice.

The crowds at UD games rivaled some of the best I seen in basketball period, and they do have some pretty good talent.

have to agree with geoff re: hancock. it's amazing that if he was drunk(likely) and killed someone else, he would have been villified in the media and all the political interests groups would have jumped on the bandwagon. he kills himself and it becomes a national tragedy and games are postponed and talk of forfeits arise. i guess that comes with the territory of being a sports figure. however, since i couls care less if he played baseball, traded stocks or dug ditches, IF he was drunk...asshole! he COULD have killed somebody. if he was not drunk, it was an unfortunate accident that happens all day every day.

I don't think you were too insensitive pootie. IF he was drunk, then it's his own damn fault and the trajedy factor drops significantly. But, we don't know if he was drunk or not so we shouldn't jump to conclusions. You hit the nail on the head though.

Yes it is in Lacrosse but I'll take it. In big time NCAA football and hoops I root for Syracuse since I used to live there and received my Masters from there. However it is nice to see my alma matta be #1 in a sport even if it is just an AP ranking.

My senior year they lost the NC game to Syracuse. Maybe they can make it all the way this year.

Mikepcfl,I agree with you post on Hancock. Actually, I am not sure why this is big news. Honestly, I had never heard of the guy before. Does the fact that he is a pro athlete make it more important?

Former coworkers of mine had their 18 year old daughter crash into a tree on a windy road at night. She is still in a coma although shows some small signs of improvement. It is just absolutely tragic and my heart goes out to everyone who knows her. However I am sure that it may have received a 30 second mention on the local news at most, people gloss over it and forget it.

Is Hancock's life more valuable because he can throw a 90+ mph fastball? I don't mean to sound callous in regard to the passing of any young person but why is the life of a celebrity so much more mourned than anyone else?

Since the thread is a little about moving on, I want to make a completely non-political statement to praise what our troops are going thru in Iraq.

They watch their buddies get maimed and killed all around them and they get no chance to take a day off to mourn. They are back on patrol within minutes. It is amazing how they can hold up so well. God bless all of you over there.

Can someone tell me how Randy Moss and Dante Stallworth instantly make NE the team to beat? Neither of them will keep IND from putting up 38 on them again. Did they improve their D (other than BAL's LB)? When was the last time R. Harrison was healthy for a season? If he goes down again, forget it.

I think at some minor league ballpark, they offer a double bacon cheeseburger, but use a krispy kreme donut as a bun. I think that automatically qualifies as the best stadium food ever.

In the real world (the one in which I'm a 24 year old on Lipitor), the garlic fries at AT&T in San Francisco were pretty awesome. I hear the food at Citizen's Bank Ballpark is supposed to be really good too.

@brian in oxford~ Rachel Ray just had a sandwich outside of Fenway that looked good...I think it was named for Luis Tiant? Have you ever had one of those?

I don't think I've ever eaten anything out of the ordinary at a stadium. Awesome hot dogs and draft beer first come to mind.

I agree with you guys about Hancock...I feel very bad for his family and the Cardinal organization but I had never heard of him until this accident and if it was anyone else, it would have been dismissed as a tragic accident in the local area.

rev~ When I first heard about the accident, I first thought "he had to be drunk to do that" as well.

Rachael Ray making a sandwich usually involves dumping a can of sloppy joe mix on day-old Italian bread, no? I'm guessing it would a Cuban sandwich, which I believe (not sure) involves pork as the base meat with lots of stuff on it.

I didn't realize that Boog's was inside the ballpark, I thought it was a restaurant in the warehouse. I missed out last week! The Clipper City ale on tap was quite good, though.

I have heard about the burger-on-a-donut thing. How the hell can you hold on to something like that, though? Is it the original glazed KK?

Hmmm.... good ball park food -- Wrigley Field used to have an awesome Italian beef place (and Chicago Style dogs) right outside, but it's gone now. The Nationals used to have Hard Times Cafe (a local chili place), but it's also gone.

I guess in-stadium, nothing beats Boog's Barbecue. Outside the stadium, there's this pizza place on Addison, about a block from Wrigley, that is out of this world good...

oh yeah, and the krispy kreme donut burger, they cut the donut in half and grill the middle part and use the top/bottom towards the burger. That way, it's possible to hold the bun (donut) without getting glaze all over your fingers. But, I'd rank it right up there on the novelty scale with deep fried twinkies -- you should eat it once, but never again.

I usually bring my own food intoa ball park. I'll buy beer but that is about it. As a small kid going to Yankee Stadium there was no way my parents were going to pay the crazy prices. Today it is something like $5 or $6 for a hot dog. It is not that I can't afford it, it is just the principle. If they sold hot dogs for $3, would they sell enough quantity that they would actually make more profit? Interesting economics question what is the profit maximizing price for a hot dog.

Even going to Jets games, I used to fill waterbottles with Sam Adams beer. When that ran out, I had to buy cans of bud for $7. My friend tells me that part of the mystique of going to a game is paying outrageous prices for shitty beer.

Did anybody see Iverson's press conference after last night's game? I was astonished. He basically said "We won game 1. They won 2, 3, and 4. We know we can be better than them on a given night. We know they can be better than us on a given night. They won 3 in a row. Now we have to win 3 in a row. We can do this. We just have to play really hard."

It was great to see the inner AI.

Revscott-

I'll find the list that me and other college basketball fans made for where your conference falls.

Jason-

It actually isn't Big Shot Bob or Big Shot Rob. Apparently the story is that the the nickname started out as "Big Shot Bob" but then Horry heard about it and asked to be called "Big Shot Rob" cause nobody ever calls him Bob but some call him Rob. This let to a classic Simmons joke that was something like this: We shouldn't call him "Big Shot Bob" if he doesn't want to be called that. On the other hand, we shouldn't call him "Big Shot Rob" because he shouldn't be able to make his own nickname. I say we call him "Big Shot Brob" and get it over with.

Well, if we're going to the periphery of the ballpark, the Boston Beer Works is fantabulous. Probably the best beer/fries/burger combo I've ever had.

Grilling the donut still doesn't eliminate the hole in the middle, if it's a juicy burger. But at least now I understand the dynamic of the grip. I was thinking they used two donuts as buns and you just sucked it up that it would be all glazy on your hands.

I don't remember seeing those lists but they are pretty good except for the following:

The MVC is not a high conference...they beat teams at the beginning of the season that are injured or young and don't do anything at the end except for so. illinois. they are on par with the A-10...meaning half are good and half are not so good.

Also...no way in hell is the horizon league better than the MAC. i'm too tired to look at rpi and records vs. each league...but without butler, the horizon is a 1 trick pony. (yes, i know wright state won the league and tourny...but look at how the tourny is done...the best team gets home court advantage. that's automatic mickey mouse league in my book.)

@Chipp - 2 Things first the patriots have not lost a single important player on defense and have added Thomas and merriweather. And all the Colts of done is lost players on there defense.

Second the Patriots have improved there offense to a point were it is going to be hard to devise a game plan to stop them. Do you take away the run and let Brady, Moss , Stallworth and Watson kill you or do you try and take away the pass and let Maroney run all over you.

@Kurt - Sorry just went on Vacation. Too bad for you. And my comment about A-rod is neither stupid nor incoherrent. It just lays out the true. He had a good April, one of the best ever, but it does not matter since his team sucks at the moment. What do you think A-Rod would prefer being the MVP on a last place team or winning a World Series?

Skyline = Hard Times (but slightly better). But in DC, Hard Times pulled out of the ballpark. Last year, their chili cheese nachos were the best ballpark food in the world.

But, RFK will let you bring in anything that is not sold in the stadium, and water. So, I can't bring in a tailgate hot dog, but I can bring in a bologna sandwich. Water bottles of vodka would be so much better if they sold OJ inside though.

I think you need to take a closer look at the MVC. How many real teams are there? Southern Illiois, Northern Iowa, Creighton, Missouri State, Bradley, and Witchita State. In the Atlantic 10? Xavier and GW. On random years St. Joseph's and Dayton. UMass and Temple used to count. Add those together and they equal the MVC. Can you say that Southern Illinois or Creighton aren't a lot better than Xavier and GW?

not when creighton lost to xavier last year at xavier and beat them this year at home. and they beat dayton last year in double OT w/o dayton's 2nd best player. they lost at dayton this year pretty bad.

southern illinois is good...but i think xavier is just as good (as seen by this year's tournament). dayton is as good if not better. the league is exactly alike...i've researched it. missouri state lost to slu this year too.

i'm not saying they are a bad league...i'm just saying they get all the love and the a-10 gets jackshit

As a guy that went to Northern Iowa for a year, I've got a biased opinion so keep that in mind, but guyinthecorner is absolutely right. The Valley hasmore of the better better teams than the A-10. Just because the A-10's top couple teams either beat or played close to the MVC's top couple teams doesn't really provide a broad sample base. SLU beating Missouri St. means absolutely nothing because that is a rivalry game. If history has shown anything, it's shown that any team can win a rivalry game. Sorry, revscott, you're just wrong. At this point in time, over the last, say 3 years, the MVC is better top to bottom.

I think I heard somewhere that the Yankees (Torre) made the 2nd most in-game pitching changes of any April in history.

They recovered from this 2 years ago, but it took the emergence of Wang, and out-of-their-mind performances from Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small to do it. Now I can envision Hughes doing the part of Wang, but the Small/Chacon things have a pretty absurd chance of repeating themselves.

Cmfost you retard, no one's arguing that we wouldn't rather have the Yankees play well, than Arod have a sick month. How many times do people have to tell you, without Arod's big April, the Yankees would be 8+ games back now. So when the Yankees pass the Red Sox in August, maybe you'll get it through your thick head that his month DOES mean something.

I can't wait for your comment tomorrow downplaying Phil Hughes 6.1 no hit innings, because the Yankees are struggling.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.